CD Review: The Luxury “Bones & Beaten Heart”

The Luxury is a Rock and Roll band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band that currently consists of: Jason Dunn – vocals, guitar Matt Diekmann – bass, vocals Mark McGettrick – drums, vocals Rob Sistare – guitar, vocals Taylor Kirkwood – keys. Together, the band creates a sound that combines strong keyboard influence with equal influence from guitar. The keyboard/guitar sound from the band creates a style that feels very much like a combination of New Wave Rock and Roll and Indie Rock. The band’s unique sound can be found on their four releases of three albums and one EP. The latest of the albums from The Luxury is 2015’s Bones and Beaten Heart.

Bones and Beaten Heart from The Luxury is a fourteen-track release that is broken up two “sides,” making the album perfectly divisible for two sides of a record release. The two sides of the album are divided into the “Bones” side and the “Broken Heart” side.

The “Bones” side begins with the “Intro”. While The Luxury now contains a different lineup, the recording for the instrumental “Intro” track (and the rest of the album) features the keys from Steven Borek. The keyboards on the track seem to have a certain darkness that comes through in the deep, low notes in the music. That darkness in the music appears to be an ominous warning about what is to come.

The release transitions from the Intro of the album into the track “In Lieu of Goodbye,” a track that contains lyrics about a relationship all but crashing to the ground. The lyrics of the song are about a man writing a parting message to his “ex” as he ties up all loose ends. The music to the track feels like a combination of New Wave and regular Rock and Roll. The upbeat approach of the music seems slightly strange considering what the lyrics are about.

The album continues with the “title track” of “Static and Vertigo”. The track finds the band creating a track that combines a lot of modern-day Rock and Roll and a lot of British New Wave influence as the track feels like something that might have been created at the same time as Queen’s album of Invincible that featured the track “We Will Rock You”. The track has enough modern-day influence that it would be right at home on today’s Top 40 radio formats.

With the track “This House,” The Luxury takes their music in a direction that will remind some of the type of Rock and Roll that existed back in the seventies as the band creates a track that brings to mind bands like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Pink Floyd with a touch of more modern bands like Stereophonics. The resulting track would easily fit onto any Album-Oriented Rock radio format. The way the band performs the track on the album, you can image the song translating well live.

Just like the earlier track “In Lieu of Goodbye,” the track of “Losing My Time on You” brings back some of the painful feeling of the lyrics from the earlier track. The track features a musical approach that combines several musical directions at once. Included in the styles is Seventies Rock, Indie Rock, even a little bit of the Beatles thrown in. The combination of the musical styles gives the track an unmistakably timeless feel to the music.

With the song “For You Only,” The Luxury brings the Bones half of Bones and Beaten Heart to a close. In an Acoustic Rock/Psychedelic Rock approach, the track recalls something that might have been included in The Wall or Wish You Were Here from Pink Floyd. And just like much of the material created by Pink Floyd, “For You Only” contains a production value that begs you to put headphones on and just let the track play out. The repetition of “And You Can Live in Your Neverland” in the lyrics not only connects the whole separation premise that exists throughout the concept that has been threaded throughout the album, but it also brings to mind a moment that might have been included in The Wall.

“Bones” is only one side of the release. Bones and Beaten Heart from The Luxury contains a whole other “side” in “Beaten Heart” that is just as strong as “Bones” is.

Bones and Beaten Heart from The Luxury is a release that plays out like the concept albums from back in the seventies. Each song on the release is connected to the next and that keeps the storyline moving. Aside from the continuing story, the music of the tracks from The Luxury changes from one track to the next. The band itself says it best:
For Everyone Who Believes in Albums- Turn It Up!